THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. So, yesterday there we
were in a bus in northern Florida, and old John McCain said, wait until
you get to Phoenix. (Applause.) He's right.

I'm working hard to ask for your vote. (Applause.) I'm here to
let you know there is more to do to make America a safer place, a
stronger place, and a better place. (Applause.) I'm here to ask for
your help. (Applause.) We won Arizona last time; we're going to win
it this time, and we're going to win a great national victory.
(Applause.)

Thank you all for coming. I only wish that Laura were here to see
this crowd. (Applause.) She is a -- she's a remarkable woman. She is
a great wife, a fantastic mother -- (applause.) I'm going to give you
some reasons tonight to put me back in, but perhaps the most important
reason of all is so that Laura has four more years. (Applause.)

I'm proud to be running with Dick Cheney. (Applause.) Now, look,
I admit it, he's not the prettiest face in the race. (Laughter.) I
didn't pick him for that reason. I picked him because of his judgment,
his experience. I picked him because he can do the job. (Applause.)

I'm proud to be traveling with a great American and a fine citizen
of this state, a person who served his nation with distinction and
honor -- John McCain. (Applause.) I want to thank his wife Cindy for
joining us, as well. She's a class act, good lady. (Applause.)

I also want to thank my friend, Jon Kyl, the other Senator from
this state. You got two fine United States Senators from Arizona.
(Applause.)

I want to thank my friends from the congressional delegation,
Renzi, Franks, Shadegg, J.D. Hayworth, Jeff Flake, for their
leadership. (Applause.) I'm proud that Secretary of State Jan Brewer
is here. I want to thank Jan for coming, and State Treasurer David
Petersen. Listen, thank you all for coming.

I want to thank the grassroots activists who are here. (Applause.)
I want to thank my friend, Luis Gonzalez -- (applause) -- and his great
wife, Christine. I know my friends, the Lehmanns, are here. I'm glad
they're here -- old Tom Lehmann. I could use a putting lesson.
(Laughter.) I don't have much time to practice these days, I'm out
working. (Applause.)

See, I'm asking for your help to register voters. You've got a lot
of new people moving in this state, and they, like you, have a duty and
a democracy to vote and to participate. (Applause.) We're asking for
people to do a little extra work to register our fellow citizens and
urge them to go to the polls. And when you get them headed to the
polls, you might just tell them America will be better off with
Bush-Cheney in the White House. (Applause.)

The past few years -- in the past few years, Americans have been
through a lot together, a whole lot, and we've accomplished a great
deal. But there's only one reason to look backward at the record, and
that is to determine who best to lead us forward. (Applause.) I'm
running -- I'm running -- I'm asking for your vote because so much is
at stake. (Applause.) We have much more to do, much more to do to
move this country forward and make it a better place. (Applause.)

We've got more to do to make our public schools the centers of
excellence we all know they can be so that no child is left behind in
America. (Applause.) When we came to office three and a half years
ago, too many of our children were being just shuffled from grade to
grade, year after year, without learning the basics. So we challenged
the soft bigotry of low expectations. We raised the sights of
everybody. We believe in accountability. We believe in local control
of schools. We believe in challenging schools that refuse to change
and refuse to teach. (Applause.)

And we're making progress. We're closing that achievement gap here
in America. More of our children are learning to read and write and
add and subtract, and there's more to do. We want our high school
diplomas to mean something. (Applause.) We need to make sure our
children are educated for the jobs of the 21st century, so we need to
concentrate on science and math. We need to bring technology into
classrooms in America. What I'm telling you is, after four more years,
a rising generation will have the hope and the skills necessary to
succeed in this world. (Applause.)

We have got -- we've got more work to do to make sure health care
is available and affordable. We addressed the issue of our seniors
square on. You might remember that political campaign after political
campaign, our seniors were promised a stronger Medicare system. We got
the job done. (Applause.) Our seniors now have the ability to choose
a plan that meets their needs, and there will be coverage for
prescription drugs for our seniors. We're doing more to make sure
health care is available and affordable. We're expanding community
health centers for low-income Americans. We're providing health
savings accounts so American families can save tax-free to meet their
own health care needs. (Applause.)

In order to make sure American families have got health care, we
must allow small employers to join together to be able to purchase
insurance at discounts that big companies are able to do. (Applause.)
We'll harness technology to reduce costs and prevent mistakes. We'll
expand research and seek new cures. And to make sure you've got
affordable health care, we need to end the frivolous lawsuits that are
harming our docs and harming our patients. (Applause.)

You cannot be pro-patient, pro-doctor, and pro-trial lawyer at the
same time. (Applause.) You have to choose. My opponent made his
choice, and he put him on the ticket. I made my choice. I am for
medical liability reform now. (Applause.) In all we do to improve
health care in this country, we will make sure the health care
decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by Washington, D.C.
bureaucrats. (Applause.)

We got more to do to make sure this economy is stronger. We've
been through a lot. We've been through a recession; we've been through
corporate scandals; we've been through the terror attacks. Yet we've
overcome these obstacles. (Applause.) We've overcome these obstacles
because we've got great workers in America. We've overcome these
obstacles because the entrepreneurial spirit is strong and the small
business sector of our economy is flourishing. (Applause.) We've
overcome these obstacles because we've got great ranchers and farmers.
And we've overcome these obstacles because we delivered well-timed tax
relief to the American people. (Applause.) Because we acted, our
economy has grown at a rate as fast as any in nearly 20 years. Because
we acted, we've added nearly 1.5 million jobs over the past year.
(Applause.) Because we acted, Arizona's unemployment rate is at 4.7
percent. (Applause.)

We're making progress. We're not turning back. So long as anybody
is looking for work, we're going to keep working to make sure there's a
job available for them. (Applause.) There is more work to do to keep
jobs here in America and to keep this job base growing; we need to
become less dependent on foreign sources of energy. (Applause.) We
need to reduce the regulations on our employers in America. We need
real, meaningful tort reform in America to keep jobs here.
(Applause.) In order to keep jobs here at home, we need to be opening
up markets for our Arizona products. (Applause.) We must not become
economic isolationists in America. We must be confident -- you see, we
can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere, so long as the playing
field is level. (Applause.)

In order to be keeping jobs here in America, we've got to make sure
our workers are trained for the jobs of the 21st century. That's why
I'm such a strong backer of the community college system, not only here
in Arizona, but all across our country. (Applause.) In order to make
sure we keep jobs here, we've got to be wise about how we spend your
money, and we've got to keep your taxes low. (Applause.)

We're working together to protect our residents and forests across
the west from catastrophic wildfires. Listen, I understand you're in a
severe drought. Water is a precious commodity. And as a result of the
drought you're in, our national treasures are forest fires -- are
vulnerable. That's why I worked with John McCain and Jon Kyl to pass a
bipartisan bill called Healthy Forests Restoration Act. (Applause.)

I understand the West. I understand the issues of the West. Some
people took a different view of that Healthy Forests legislation. Back
in October, my opponent told us Healthy Forests would let people chop
down mountainsides of old-growth trees. When I signed the bill, he
said we're taking a chainsaw to public forests. I understand the
West. I understand the issues you face out here. Yet, when he came
out West to campaign, he turned that position around. Now he says he
likes a lot of the parts of the law. I guess it's not only the
wildfires that shift with the wind. (Applause.)

I'm running for four more years to keep our nation's economy the
strongest in the industrialized world. I'm running so our small
businesses are vibrant. I'm running so our farmers and ranchers are
healthy. And I'm running so people can find good-paying jobs.
(Applause.)

We have more to do to wage and win the war against terror.
America's future depends on our willingness to lead in the world. If
America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will
drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT: The world changed on that terrible September
morning, and since that day, we've changed the world. Before September
the 11th, Afghanistan served as the home base of al Qaeda, which
trained and deployed thousands of killers and set up cells in nations
around the world, including our own. Because we acted, because we
acted with our friends, Afghanistan is a rising democracy. Afghanistan
is an ally in the war on terror. Young girls now go to school for the
first time in Afghanistan. (Applause.) And America and the world are
safer.

Before September the 11th, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia weren't
joining us in the war on terror. Today they are. Today, Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia are allies in the war on terror. They're after al Qaeda.
America and the world are safer. (Applause.)

Because of our leadership, we're changing the world. Before
September the 11th, Libya was spending millions to acquire weapons of
mass destruction. Today, because America and our allies have sent a
clear message and a strong message, the leader of Libya has abandoned
his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and America and the world
are safer. (Applause.)

Before September the 11th, the ruler of Iraq was a sworn enemy of
America. He was defying the world. You might remember he was firing
weapons at American pilots who were enforcing the world's sanctions.
He had pursued and he had used weapons of mass destruction. He
harbored terrorists. He invaded his neighbors. He subsidized the
families of suicide bombers. He had murdered tens of thousands of his
own citizens. He was a source of great instability in the world's most
volatile region. We saw a threat. We looked at the intelligence and
we saw a threat. And as we did so, we remembered a vital lesson of
September the 11th, and that lesson is, we must take threats seriously,
before they fully materialize. (Applause.)

I knew it was important on this vital matter to work with the
United States Congress. So I went to the Congress and said, Saddam
Hussein's a threat. The Congress looked at the same intelligence, and
members of both political parties, including my opponent, agreed that
Saddam Hussein was a threat. And then we went to the United Nations --
and the United Nations looked at the intelligence and concluded that
Saddam Hussein was a threat. And they passed a resolution that said
disclose, disarm or face serious consequences. (Applause.) As he had
for over a decade, Saddam Hussein defied the free world. As a matter
of fact, when we sent inspectors in -- or the world sent inspectors in,
he systematically deceived the inspectors. And so I had a choice to
make. My choice was do I forget the lessons of September the 11th --

AUDIENCE: Nooo!

THE PRESIDENT: -- and hope for the best --

AUDIENCE: Nooo!

THE PRESIDENT: -- and trust the word and deeds of a madman, or do
I take action to defend America. I will defend America every time.
(Applause.)

Even though we have not found the stockpiles we expected to find,
we do know that Saddam had the capability to make weapons of mass
destruction, and he could have passed that capability on to our
enemies. That was a risk we could not afford to take. Knowing what I
know today, I would have taken the same action. (Applause.) And
America and the world are safer because Saddam Hussein sits in a prison
cell. (Applause.)

Now, almost two years after he voted for the war in Iraq, and
almost 220 days after switching positions to declare himself the
anti-war candidate, my opponent has found a new nuance. He now agrees
it was the right decision to go into Iraq. After months of questioning
my motives and even my credibility, Senator Kerry now agrees with me
that even though we have not found the stockpiles of weapons that we
all believed were there, knowing everything we know today, he would
have voted to go into Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power. I
want to thank my opponent for clearing that up. (Applause.) But just
remember, there are 83 days left in the campaign, time enough to change
his mind again. (Applause.)

I'm running for four more years because I know we must continue to
work with our friends and allies to aggressively pursue the terrorists
and the foreign fighters in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and
elsewhere. See, you cannot talk sense to these people. You cannot
negotiate with these people. We must engage the enemy around the world
so we do not have to face them here at home. (Applause.)

During the next four years, America will continue to lead the world
with confidence and moral clarity. We put together a strong coalition
to help us defeat terror. Listen, we've got nearly 60 nations involved
with the Proliferation Security Initiative, nearly 40 nations are
involved in Afghanistan, some 30 nations are involved in Iraq. I'll
continue to build our alliances and work with our friends for the sake
of peace, but I will never turn over America's national security
decisions to leaders of other countries. (Applause.)

America -- America and the world are safer. We're heading to peace
because our commitments are kept by the men and women of our military.
(Applause.) I want to thank the veterans who are here for setting such
a great example to the men and women of our military. (Applause.)
I've had the privilege of meeting with those who defend our country and
sacrifice for our security. I've seen their great decency and their
unselfish courage. Ladies and gentlemen, the cause of freedom and
peace is in really good hands. And any time -- and anytime -- and our
troops deserve the full support of the United States government.
(Applause.)

Last September, while our troops were in combat in Afghanistan and
Iraq, I proposed supplemental funding to support them in their
missions. This money was going to -- this money did provide body armor
and vital equipment, hazard pay, health benefits, ammunition, fuel and
spare parts for our military. (Applause.) In the Senate -- in the
Senate, only a small out-of-the-mainstream minority of 12 senators
voted against that funding. Two of those 12 senators are my opponent
and his running mate. (Boos.) My opponent tried to explain his vote
this way: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted
against it." End quote. And then he went on to say that he was proud
he and his running mate voted against it, and then he went on to say,
at another time, the funding issue is a complicated matter. There is
nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat. (Applause.)

In the long run, our security is not guaranteed by force alone. We
must work to change the conditions that give rise to terror: poverty
and hopelessness and resentment. I see a lady holding a sign there
that says, "My son is in Iraq." I want you to know, ma'am, that your
son is performing a duty that is changing the world. (Applause.) A
free and peaceful Iraq and a free and peaceful Afghanistan will be
powerful examples to their neighbors. These parts -- people in these
parts of the world are desperate for freedom. In Iraq and Afghanistan,
there are now strong leaders who understand the power of free
societies. And we understand the power of freedom in America. We know
that free societies do not export terror. We know that in free
societies, leaders listen to the hopes and aspirations of their
people. By serving the ideal of liberty, we are bringing hope to
others, and that makes our country more secure. By serving the ideal
of liberty, we're making the world more peaceful. By serving the ideal
of liberty, we're serving the ideals of our country. Freedom is not
America's gift to the world. Freedom is the Almighty God's gift to
each man and woman in this world. (Applause.)

I'm running for four more years because I know we've got a lot of
work to do to protect us. Enemies who hate us are still plotting to
harm us. My opponent says that going to war with the terrorists is
actually improving their recruiting efforts. His logic is upside-down
and it shows a dangerous misunderstanding of the enemy we face. During
the 1990s, terrorists were recruiting and training for war with us,
long before America went to war with them. They don't need an excuse
for their hatred. It's wrong to blame America for the anger and the
evil of those killers. (Applause.) You don't create terrorists by
defending yourself and fighting back. You defeat the terrorists by
fighting back. (Applause.)

Listen, the September -- the 9/11 Commission wrote a good report,
and it said that because of the actions we've taken since September the
11th, our homeland is safer, but we're not yet safe. I agree with that
conclusion. There's more work to do. Beginning immediately after
September the 11th, we started the hard process of reform. We created
the new Department of Homeland Security. We passed the Patriot Act,
which is vital, it is necessary to give our law enforcement the tools
necessary to disrupt terrorist activity. (Applause.) We're
integrating intelligence and law enforcement better than ever before.
We're taking up a lot of those recommendations. We've got to do a
better job of securing our ports and borders and training our first
responders and dramatically improving our intelligence-gathering
capabilities. (Applause.)

I called on Congress to create the position of National
Intelligence Director so that one person is in charge of coordinating
our intelligence efforts overseas and here at home. There's a lot of
really good people working hard to defend the American people, and I'm
proud of their efforts. (Applause.)

Now, reforms are never easy in Washington. It takes on -- it
requires taking on the entrenched interests, those who are happy with
the status quo. It's not enough to advocate reform, you have to be
able to get it done. When it came to reforming our public schools,
we're getting the job done. (Applause.) When it comes to giving our
health care reforms to our families, with more access and more choices,
we're getting the job done. (Applause.) When it comes to creating
jobs in America, we're getting the job done. When it comes to
defending America and spreading the peace, we're getting the job done.
(Applause.) And when it comes to choosing a President, you better have
a President who can get the job done. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT: We live in a time -- we live in a time of rapid
change. These are exciting times. One way to help American citizens
during this time of change is to encourage an ownership society. We
want people owning and controlling their own health care accounts. We
want our Social Security system to work. Listen, for old people like
me and McCain -- (laughter) -- the Social Security is sound enough for
us. I'm worried about the younger workers. I'm working about the
solvency of Social Security. Therefore, I think younger workers ought
to be allowed to have personal savings accounts that they can call
their own. (Applause.)

We want more people owning their business. I love the fact when
somebody says to me, you know, I just started my own business. We want
more people owning their own home. The homeownership rate is at an
all-time high in America. What a fantastic thought -- (applause) --
what a fantastic thought to know that more and more Americans are
opening up their front doors saying, welcome to my home. (Applause.)
You see, this administration understands that when you own something,
you have a vital stake in the future of our country. (Applause.)

In this time of change, there's some things won't change, our
belief in liberty and opportunity, and in the non-negotiable demands of
human dignity; the individual values we try to live by, courage and
compassion, reverence and integrity; the institutions that give us
direction and purpose, our families, our schools, our religious
congregations. (Applause.) These values and institutions are
fundamental to our lives, and they deserve the respect of government.
(Applause.)

We stand for institutions like marriage and family, which are the
foundation of society. (Applause.) We stand for a culture of life in
which every person matters and every person counts. (Applause.) We
stand for judges who faithfully interpret the law instead of
legislating from the bench. (Applause.) We stand for a culture of
responsibility in America. This culture of ours is changing from one
that has said, if it feels good, just go ahead and do it, and if you
got a problem, blame somebody else, to a culture in which each of us
understands we are responsible for the decisions we make in life.
(Applause.)

If you're fortunate to be a mother or a father, you are responsible
for loving your child with all your heart and all your soul.
(Applause.) If you're worried about the quality of the education in the
community in which you live, you are responsible for doing something
about it. (Applause.) If you're a CEO in corporate America, you're
responsible for telling the truth to your shareholders and your
employees. (Applause.) And in a responsibility society, each of us is
responsible for loving our neighbor just liked we'd like to be loved
ourselves. (Applause.)

I'm seeking the vote because I want to continue to rally the armies
of compassion for the next four years. I understand the strength of
this country is the hearts and souls of the American people, and I know
-- and I know that by rallying the great strength of America, we can
change our society one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time.
(Applause.)

For all Americans, these years in our history will stand apart.
There are quiet times in the life of a nation when little is expected
of its leaders. This isn't one of those times. It's a time that
requires firm resolve, strong belief in the values that have made our
country great. (Applause.)

None of us will ever forget that week when one era ended and
another began. As John mentioned, on September the 14th, 2001, I stood
in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It's a day I'll never forget. There
were workers in hard-hats yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." I
remember -- I remember -- I remember working the rope line, thanking
people, and a fellow grabbed me. He had bloodshot eyes, he had been in
-- searching the rubble for somebody that he had worked with, and he
said, "Do not let me down." He took -- he took that day personally.
All the workers took it personally. I know you took it personally, and
so do I. I have a duty that goes on. I wake up every morning thinking
about how to best protect our country. I will never relent in
defending America, whatever it takes. (Applause.)

We've come -- we've come through much together. We've done a lot
of hard work. There's more work to be done over the next four years.
We will spread ownership and opportunity to every corner of America.
During the next four years, we will pass the enduring values of our
country on to another generation. During the next four years, we will
continue to lead the world to spread freedom and peace. (Applause.)

Four years ago, I traveled this great country asking for the vote.
I made a pledge to my fellow Americans that if you honored me with this
great responsibility, I would uphold the dignity and the honor of the
office to which I have been elected, so help me God. (Applause.) And
with your help, I will do so for the next four years.